


Regrets

by bennijie



Category: Marvel Cinematic Universe
Genre: Bucky Barnes Has PTSD, Budapest, Civil War (Marvel), Civil War Team Captain America, Father-Daughter Relationship, Gen, Hydra (Marvel), Post-Traumatic Stress Disorder - PTSD, Roadtrip, You're Welcome, bucky is basically a dad now, google translate, it's oc guys dw, pre-Civil War, they're in romania, we need more dad bucky tbh
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2018-09-08
Updated: 2018-09-11
Packaged: 2019-07-08 12:18:13
Rating: Not Rated
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings, Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 6,755
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/15930278
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/bennijie/pseuds/bennijie
Summary: April 2014 was the weirdest and most stressful month of his life.Bucky Barnes wanting nothing more to forget his past and walk his own journey and create his own destiny through what time he had left on Earth. His mind filled with regrets from the influence of HYDRA, he decides that  he'd save someone else from future regret, a girl with a tattoo of a bar-code on her skin and a band aid on her heart.





	1. The Weirdest Month of James Buchanan Barnes' Life

April 2014 was the weirdest and most stressful month of his life.

The girl, merely 12 or 13 was inquisitive within the week since they found a place to hold up.

A week later and Bucky had managed to locate a car for them to use. He knew that catching a direct plane out of DC would be too risky, so he opted for Los Angeles, which meant a small road trip and covering tracks along the way.

But before they were properly planning to leave, and they had not been together as 'partners in crime' the thought of getting caught trying to save her from a life of HYDRA was dodgy at best. Getting shot and dying would be way better than going back to his own little personal slice of hell. He even hesitated on going through with it, after the helicarrier incident a week ago, he still wanted to lay low. But, this would be his only chance to get to her.

But he reminded himself that it's what Steve would do.

_The right thing._

He reminded himself he was doing the right thing that night, where the air felt stiff and cold, being able to see his breath exhale and leave his mouth as he slowly moved in to take down the driver, rock in the window, then the passenger, chocking, and the four others that came from the back of the truck. He tried his hardest to move as quickly as possible. The headlights and moon showing the outlines of his targets, like a glowing guide to show him the way.

He huffed as he threw the door of the back of the truck up, finding her tied up in the back, hands bound together in cuffs, a collar around her neck and a muzzle similar to his old one and drugged up on something that caused her to act loopy and seem tired. Sedatives most likely, for her powers. He remembers having to restrain and stab a needle into her for transport. She groaned slightly, eyes surveying him as he began to take away the muzzle.

"I'm here to help" he whispers and then they ran into the night.

So here they were now, in a car park that over looks a bank across the street. HYDRA had bank accounts scattered around the country in different names. Bucky watches as walks over across the street to the ATM, adjusting her hoodie to cover herself up more over her green casual dress. He shifts in the driver's seat and looks around for anything suspicious, nothing other than people walking into the shopping centre.

She came back quickly and as quietly as possible.

"I extracted everything from the account" she says, taking her little backpack out from her back and opens it up. "thousand dollars" she says, brushing her blonde shoulder length hair away from her eyes (he'd never realise how much it will grow). She reaches into the back seat to get his bag and starts shuffling things around and placing a handful of hundred-dollar notes into his bag in little zip lock bags. "If I took out anymore, they would have been suspicious" she says "I apologise" he places the bags in the back seat of the car. "Where are we going now?"

Bucky sighs and takes off his baseball cap on his head and throws it into the backseat carelessly, a thousand dollars is totally not suspicious. "We're going to Los Angeles" he says, beginning to drive down the road and putting on his indicator to turn right. "It'll take us 2 to 3 days at least, 4 if we're running late"

"Isn't Los Angeles really crowded?" she asks, not phased over the fact that they have to drive two days. "That would put us at a higher risk of being noticed" Bucky almost hated the fact that she thought like more of an adult than a child.

"It's more of a danger to me than you." He corrects, switching gears "We're catching a plane" he says "To Romania" he checks the rear-view mirror quickly to see if they're being followed, but nothing familiar comes to mind and turns right after a white work ute passes in front of him.

"Oh" she says nonchalantly, casting her eyes out the window. She looks like she wants to say something but doesn't.

Bucky doesn't really pay attention to it though, trying to keep his mind on the task. His first stop to stay the night is in Nashville, which is a hopefully only 9-hour drive. If it's 0934 now, then he'd get there at around 1843. Hopefully, they'll be able to check into a motel under a fake name and get a good nights rest as well as plan for the next day as well.

"It's a nine-hour drive" he says, then realising that she can't read minds without touching him, so he continues to fill her in on his plan "To Nashville"

"Okay" she says "There are two bank accounts for those residing in Nashville. I suggest we don't access them until the day after to avoid suspicion. Or maybe not at all"

Bucky silently agrees as he turns onto the highway.

"We just gotta be careful" he says to her "One wrong move and we could end up dead"

The girl agrees with an affirmative nod.

"I have to set down some ground rules" His voice became more demanding, stern, like one of her old officers that trained her to fight. "We keep our pasts to ourselves"

The girl never understood this rule. With their pasts intertwined and all, but she got the main idea of it, don't go digging up his past or sprouting randomly about the old version on him that she unfortunately had the chance to meet.

"Don't show anyone your powers" he continues "They'll report you to the police or something and we don't want that. In fact, don't bother using your powers at all"

"What about emergencies?" she asks

"Only when I say"

She stays silent.

"Also, don't show anyone your barcode," he gestures to her wrist, that's been bandaged up to not show the barcode imprinted on her skin as well as covered by the purple hoodie sleeve. "Keep it covered up at all times" he clears his throat slightly. "And you do as I say, when I say it. Okay?"

"Understood sir"

"Don't call me sir"

"My apologies, Mister"

He sighs. This was going to be a long trip.

 


	2. The Hat

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> she gets a hat

The drive to their first stop for the night was interrupted only a handful of times, mainly for bathroom breaks or to stretch their legs, spanning to only 10 minutes at a time, possible even a little more if for their lunch break at around 12. Bucky swore that he had to buy a leash for the kid, she kept wandering off and looking and touching everything in the nearest vicinity. Playing with the novelty hats and the music albums that have been outdated for years. He ended up buying her a trapper hat to keep her occupied for the next few hours until he got to Nashville, as well as a puzzle book she'll most likely complete in a few hours, but she was mainly occupied with the colouring in book for kids she carried around everywhere.

The door beeped at the entrance of the two of them, a small breeze of hot air making the girl sneeze a little. The cashier, who looked greasy, tired and like her uniform didn't fit her, looks up quickly out of curiosity and goes back to serving the customer with a forced smile. The girl and Bucky begin to wander the service station in search for food to eat.

"What do you want to eat?" he asks, glancing down at her

"I'm fine with anything I am given"

At least she's polite about it.

"Are you happy with chips then?" he asks she says yes and gently pushes her towards the drinks "I'll get in line, while you get two bottles of water"

And she was off to go get the water and return. It took her a total of 5 minutes even if it was only a few meters away from them and he could clearly see every move she made, he wondered why she took so long... then he realised she was reading the labels to find the best one. She comes back before he's about to be served.

"And uh, box of chips, thanks" he adds, a slight nod as he dives into his pants to bring out a hundred dollar note and before she could finish talking, he hands her the money and glancing down at the girl to find her not by his side but rather over by the hats.

"We're out of chips so you'll have to wait a few minutes" she says, flicking her head to get the hair from her eyes, the cashier eyes the girl and returns her gaze to him. "We'll call for you when it's done"

Bucky lets out a timid thank you and goes over to the girl now playing with the salt and vinegar on a table across from the counter. He's quick to grab her before her curiosity got the best of her and sat her tiredly on a chair not too far away more towards the café side of the gas station. She pouts and pulls the trapper more over her head, the sides covering her face, she looked very warm.

"Don't touch anything" he says quickly. "You'll make a mess" he growls slightly

"I apologise, my curiosity get the best of me"

"Good" Bucky sighs and looks around. "They said it'll be ready soon"

"Okay" She replies and watches through the door of the kitchen on what they're doing.

It didn't take that long for the both of them to be sitting on a bench not too far away from their car eating. Before Bucky actually settled in next to her to eat something, he bought a journal and he began to write. She couldn't see what he was writing, she didn't want to anyway, it was his business and she wasn't about to read someone's tragic past.

He wrote about the time Steve and he went down to the harbour and ate chips until the sun set. He remembers that it was a couple of weeks before Steve's mother died, her name was Sarah and she was a kind woman and like him, never belittled or judged Steve for who he was, he liked to think that they bonded over that more than anything. Bucky remembered birds coming in close to try and snag some food, every now and then one of them would throw a chip into the ocean and watch a bird dive or float over to eat it before flying away. He remembered getting a bird right on its beak and Steve laughed so hard at the poor bird's confusion that he almost fell into the water, the panic on his face with the waving of arms to keep balance on the side of the harbour's edge on that afternoon was the actions of someone who will represent America for generations to come.

He looked so dumb.

He chuckled slightly.

"You're smiling" says the girl, putting a chip into her mouth, flicking her blonde hair away from her eyes slightly as she colours in a whale with a dark blue crayon.

Bucky casts is look over to his left where she sat. She smiled up at him. "I've never seen you smile before"

Bucky returns to the journal, thinking nothing of her comment, brushing her off entirely but she thought nothing of it anyway.

She was used to being cast aside just as much as he was.

 


	3. The Believer

Bucky noted how much his new friend didn't talk.

It was becoming almost irritating, with only bad small talk like 'that's a weird car' or him telling her not to do something. She didn't seem to have much to say either, working on her puzzles or staring out the window to the silence of the car and its radio. She fell asleep once after lunch, her head lolled over to the side with the trappers hat on looking to be in a some-what comfortable position.

He decided in that car that he was going to give her a name. He can't go around calling her 'girl' all the time. People will think it's weird.

The barcode had a serial number underneath it. C0-N14, he never found out the meaning of it, he never wanted to. He only knew she would someday lead HYDRA into a new age, the more  he thought about it, he more disgusted he felt towards that group that abused the two of them.

But a name was permanent.

C0-N14.

Con.

Connie.

Her name would be Connie.

He'd probably need to somehow Aquire a fake ID for the both of them, which meant more than small talk and actual questions about her, she'd most likely ask the same questions back. She was the curious type. He wasn't really in the mood to dive deeper into his memories.

She was staring out into nothing when he told her.

"You don't have a name" he states, rather loudly.

"C0-N14 is my code name and branding" she says awkwardly, staring at the side of his face as he drives "I don't really care what I'm called" she absentmindedly wraps her arms around her and casts her eyes away.

He cringed slightly. "Then, your name is Connie" he shuffles in his seat

"Okay" she says, turning the window to watch the passing cars and smiled.

\---

They got to the motel around 7:30. He didn't have trouble finding it since it was one of the last towns before the Nashville border and they were even luckier that it was relatively cheap for one night and two beds. He noticed that Connie stayed close, either out of obedience or a new environment, he would never know.

He turned the key to one of the rooms upstairs, being greeted by even colder air from inside, a small kitchen table in the even smaller kitchen as well as a couch and TV. The paintings in the room was various landscapes. The light of the room flickered, which annoyed him into the beyond.

Connie wandered in aimlessly before getting a glass of water and sculling it down and going for another one. Bucky reluctantly shut the door behind him and locked it, making sure the windows and curtains were shut tightly so no one would see in. He then checked the bathroom, no lock but it also didn't have any form of a window, he figured that Connie would be small enough to hide under the sink in case of an emergency after opening it and looking inside. The big window by the beds was shut tight as well, he could break it open with his metal arm if he had to.

Connie tilted her head as she sat on the kitchen bench and watched him as he walked around the room. She took a sip of her 3rd glass.

"Don't drink anymore, you'll get sick" he warns her before making his way over to open the fridge.

3 little things of milk and a jug of cold water. He shut the fridge, she could go intangible and fit in there as well. He could hide in the cupboards or even in the bathroom behind the shower curtain.

"Okay" she says, downing the rest in one go and placing it beside her.

"If something happens" he begins, turning serious "hide in the bathroom cupboard. You can pass through anything, right?"

Connie's eyebrows furrow together as her hands rest in her lap neatly. "I can barely control it. It's more so based upon fear and not enough practice"

"Then it'll be easy" he says "you'll be scared if they come anyway"

She shrugs. Her eyes casting down to the floor quickly almost as if she was ashamed of it. Bucky sighs and pours himself a glass of water to cool him off from the stress. She slides off the bench and onto one of the beds, taking a bible from the bedside drawer. Bucky leans against the cupboard and watches her read the title of the black book with gold bold writing and opens it.

"So this is a bible" she says "I was told of what it was but I've never seen one" she says to either him or herself

"You know what it's about?"

"I had to learn many about religions. Of course I know what it's about" she weighs it in her hand "for a book about earth's history, it sure is a lot lighter than I imagined" she crosses her legs together and sit neatly and comfortably on the bed.

Bucky chuckles. "You know, some people believe it's fake?"

She cocks her head to the side. "Fake?" She asks "Well, I guess that is believable. With people have different opinions on what is real and fake or the variations between. Like with mythology and many gods and I guess 'cultists' are also right as well"

Bucky shrugs and takes a sip of the water. "Well, they do have opinions"

"Like Jonestown" she says "believing so hard that they truly believed peace was on the other side. Probably the only good quality about that place was equality and equal opportunities provided to each member."

Well, she was right in one way.

"Do you believe a God exists?"

Her eyes cast down to the book for a second, lingering. "In my opinion... If a god or gods existed... We wouldn't be talking."

And he wouldn't be alive.

 


	4. Sticks and Stones

Bucky picked up a rock, weighing it in his hand and smirks to himself, turning back to Connie who was standing a few meters away from him, looking more than worried as she leaned against the bridge with her hands behind her back in the wee hours of the morning. She yawns and rubs the sleep from her eyes.

"Dodge this"

Using his metal arm he ditches a rock at her. She's not fast enough and it hits her in the chest. The rock was small though, so it didn't hurt as much.

"What was that for?" She asks, folding her arms grumpily over her pastel yellow dress he picked up from good will later yesterday.

"It was meant to go through you" he says simply.

She looks at him dumbfounded. "I don't understand"

"This is the training I mentioned yesterday" he says folding his arms. "You'd be dead now if that was a bullet"

She swallows, kicking her the back of her tip of her boots into the dirt.

"Let's try again. Tell me when to stop when it gets too much"

He bends down and picks up a rock the similar size and the cycle continues. They hit her 75% of the time, the rest of the 25% went through her. He was relieved to see that she had some sort of control over it. After Connie picked up a rhythm, he began to collect larger rocks, he gathered that she had much more control if they were larger in size, perhaps she was selecting parts of her body to turn intangible.

Eventually, he could see that she was growing tired and they left towards the car to travel to Santa Fe. He tried to limit their time out of the car, telling her to hold it and she did.

As soon as they stopped for lunch, Connie was quick to jump out the car and run to the bathrooms. Leaving the car he looked around and found it strangely deserted, apart from the 2 other cars and a 'hippie' van.

He shook off a bad feeling and locked the car.

She was there waiting for him. He looks towards the van and his lips turn to a thin line. I'd be best for them to move quickly, trusting his gut. He passes her a $50 note.

"Go get lunch and meet me at the car when you're done. I'll be probably filling up the car"

She picked up easily on his nervousness, having their hands brush slightly sent her a quick jolt of worry. No thoughts on the matter so she didn't know what to worry about.

Nodding, Connie turns on her heels as if she felt nothing and walked into the gas station. There was no one inside, not even a creepy person at the register. She swallows the lump in her throat and begins to walk the isles. Heading towards the water bottles first, getting the same brand as yesterday. As she goes to open the door a man in her late 30's walks up next to her and stands a bit close.

Connie moves to the side a little to grab the bottles. She adjusts her long sleeve shirt past her wrist nervously. As she grabs the second bottle she quickly glances at him, looking for any indication of danger.

"It's wrong to underestimate people young lady. I thought we taught you better"

Connie was then quick to react. She pushes the door further open and the man grabs the door, shutting it quickly. She stumbles back and throws a water bottles at him, of course he catches it. Plan B is that she squeezes the water bottle so tightly that the cap explodes, getting him in the forehead and she quickly spills its contents over the floor and makes a break for another isle. 

She's then quickly tackled to the ground by a new body, a woman, late 20's with eyes filled with determination. Connie is quick to fling her lower body up and wrap her legs around the woman's neck, slamming her into the ground. Seeing the approaching other man, she quickly picks up some canned beans and throws it at his head, knocking backwards and dropping the gun that was in his hand. 

Her breathing is cut short when the previous woman puts her into a choke hold, Connie hurls her body around, trying to knock the woman off her balance. When she got the proper angle, she thrust her elbow into her gut, causing her to let go and recoil. 

Connie slams her into the freezer door, the glass shatters as the woman's neck gets impaled by glass. Connie stumbles back in horror as she watches the woman fall to the floor, grabbing and clawing at her neck and soon enough ceases to move in the pool of blood. Her shoes ripple against the blood and some tiny splatters across herself. 

She doesn't move. 

She felt nothing, so why was she feeling upset?

Connie quickly snaps herself away from the potential trauma to pick up the gun as the man goes to crawl for it. Shakily, she holds it out in front of her.

"Connie!"

Her head snaps to the doors, seeing her friend surveying the room, his eyes darting to the pool of blood beside her, the shattered glass and her expression. He noticed her trembling ever so slightly as she lets out a shaky breath. Getting the terrifying vibe of the room, he slowly walks over and takes the gun from her. 

"Go get rid of the security camera footage"

She stares at the man who wipes blood from his forehead.

"Go" Bucky demands, putting on a threatening tone in his voice. 

She quickly dashes off. 

The HYDRA agent never spoke a word, he didn't need to. Bucky knew what was going to happen next, they knew where they were, they knew the number plate, HYDRA knew a lot. He noticed that Connie grew up a little more, she went top to bottom making sure there was no trace of them as Bucky interrogated the man by the name of 'Ivan'. They found several dead staff members in the kitchen and backrooms. Connie got rid of the license plate of their car, burning it along with Ivan, the woman, the staff members, the footage and the gas station. 

He swore that he could smell the smoke from even inside the bus. Around 10:30pm on the highway to Los Angeles the next day. Having hitchhiked the rest of the way to Santa Fe, renting a room before catching a bus to LA. From there they would get on the plane and leave the country. 

Connie had acquired a new outfit, since her last one was practically blood stained. Now in a pair of yellow long sleeve shirt, jean shorts and slip on shoes. 

They were tired, as the rocking and sound of the engine sent them to sleep.


	5. Newspapers

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Bucharest only lasted two years, Connie can't decide if it's okay or not.

It had been a little over 2 years now since they first arrived off the plane to Bucharest. Connie remembered the first few months being hard, the both of them squatting in random places all over the city and they'd get separated every now and then, get kicked out every now and then.

She stole a few times, fast and quiet enough so no one would notice, now she didn't have to.

They had their own apartment, it was run down, they stuck newspapers on the windows so no one could see in and hid a bag under the floor boards with chocolate bars and chip bags stashed all around the place for a quick snack. Connie found a jug jar where they keep their spatula and soup ladles. They chose the corner of the top unit so if they were caught hiding out here, the people after them could only go after them one at a time, rather than a large group surrounding them.

They did various scenarios to the point where they mapped out the entire apartment complex in their heads. Every now and then, Bucky would throw a hypothetical towards her

_"You're cornered on top of the mattress, what do you do?"_

_"I phase through the wall to the bathroom and climb out the window"_

Bucky got money from odd jobs, usually mechanical work on people who needed a cheap fix. Connie would collect scrap or take items from the trash that just needed to be fixed to sell and give it to people for a fair price, which usually worked out. She decided against fixing the walls after a few weeks of grounding up money. 

She even grew out her hair to reach her elbows, Bucky didn't like it at first, threatened to cut it off but then realised that it was something she could control. Like he had with his journal. He could control what he wrote and stored and she could control how long her hair grew.

Plus, she was 16 now, she could handle herself and make her own decisions. 

They shared a mattress, mainly to keep warm but also then neither of them would feel alone on terrible nights with bad memories. It wasn't an uncommon thing that one of them would wake up in the middle of the night not knowing where they were or what was going on. Those times were harder than finding money for food.

During the winter they shared a sleeping bag, it was more comforting for the both of them.

She was always there for him. Always there to listen and sometimes not even reply because there was no needed answer, he just needed to say it. Connie wasn't like that though, kept to herself and rarely letting him inside.

She liked his jacket though, sure it was too big for her but she liked it. She felt safe in it, especially on mornings like these where she felt unsafe about almost everything. She rolls up the green jacket sleeves to her elbows and approaches the fruit vendors. She's pretty, looks to be in her late 40's with a kind smile towards Bucky and her as he inspects the plums in his gloved hand.

"Ce fac ei?" he asks

"foarte, foarte bine, este umplut cu suc" she replies with various hand gestures.

"Că sună frumos" Connie says

"da, dragă" The vendor nods to Connie with a warm smile.

"Voi lua șase atunci" Bucky says as the vendor begins to fetch a plastic bag and he collects the plums. "We gotta get the apples as well" he smiles at her "For that slice you wanted to make"

"Yes" Connie says excitedly as Bucky hands 10 leu to her, she immediately pockets it in her jacket pocket. "Voi lua șase atunci" she waves to him and skips down the street towards the apple stall.

It wasn't long before she reunited with him across the street. He seemed to be fixated on something, the newspaper, she waits for the road to be clear before crossing the street towards him. Nervously, he glances down at her and tilts the newspaper so she could see, on the front page there are surveillance-photos of a man and the head line: 

_**'Winter Soldier cautat pentru Bombardmentul din Viena'.** _

Connie holds her breath and looks up at him as he tensely, her jaw shuts tight as her mind runs wild, ' _what now? do we have to leave again?'_

"Come on" he mutters, Connie lightly holds his sleeve and follows him home.


	6. Screaming

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> on the run

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> soz this is really bad, had to go by a script and i'm really bad at following it and describing things around me and stuff sdkljgl;isjdfl;   
> next chapter is u guess what after this one owo soooo have fun for some angst???

Connie was shaking. 

The apartment was smaller than usual, she felt smaller as the world began to creep around her. They found them and now they have to leave again. She watched the man rummage through their kitchen through the wall for some time before Bucky quietly crept out to the middle of the room, a few meters away. 

The man was in a dark blue, armored suit with a shield on his arm, red and blue and white. She recognized the shield, she'd seen it in the newspapers and on TV and the museum two years ago. The Captain America.

"Understood" he says to himself, communicating to an outsider?

Connie watched Bucky, he stood strong and tall, trying to be brave, trying to be calm, she was just like him.

Captain America turns around, he's no longer a man behind a mask saving lives like it's nothing, all that falls away as soon as he sees his old friend, Bucky Barnes.

"Do you know me?" he asks hesitantly. 

Connie comes out fully behind Bucky and touches his non metal hand, holding it tightly, their fingers interlocking, Bucky doesn't look down at her. Steve notices this and watches the girl's actions, how they were close, Steve got the idea, they were a small family.

"You're Steve. I read about you in a museum" Bucky replies after the momentary silence. Connie has never seen him this nervous before, it scared her a little.

"I know you're nervous. And you have plenty of reason to be." he glances at Connie, his softening. "But you're lying." 

His hand slightly pushes Connie back, she tentatively lets go "I wasn't in Vienna. I don't do that anymore." 

"Well" Steve says "the people who think you did are coming here now. And they're not planning on taking you alive."

Connie walks over towards Bucky, he sympathetically looks at her briefly, her eyes were glazed. 

"That's smart. Good strategy." Connie could hear footsteps above them, her hands started shaking as she clenched and unclenched them.

"This doesn't have end in a fight, Buck."

"It always ends in a fight." 

Connie mouths a  _'I'm sorry'_  to Steve as he bottom lip quivers.

"You pulled me from the river." Bucky, revealing his metal hand  "Why?"

"I don't know." he barely whispers

"Yes, you do."

All of a sudden, a grenade crashes through the window, Bucky pushes Connie backwards and kicks it to Steve, who smothers it with his shield, she could feel the bomb go off through the floor.

Bang.

The door.

Bucky pulls Connie close again, lifting the mattress to cover the both of them as a shot rings out into the air. She pushes it to the side. Connie hears the door trying to be forced open and runs to the table, flinging it up in one swift motion to stop the door from opening.

She exhales.

Two policemen swing into the windows on cables, Bucky pulls the one closest to them in, and Connie gives a finishing blow to the stomach.

Bucky slams another policeman into the wall. 

"Buck, stop! You're gonna kill someone."

Bucky turns, pushing Steve to the floor and punching a hole in it to dig out one of their many emergency bags.

"I'm not gonna kill anyone"

Bucky grabs the backpack from under the floorboards and throws it out of the window, landing on the next building. Connie then knows that, that is where they'll meet up, to be separated now would cause distress to both of them. 

Another cop comes through the window and Bucky shields himself from the gunfire and Steve reinforces it. Connie wastes no time to jump on the cop with a scream, straddling his waist and retrieving the gun, temporarily disorientating him so he would fall into the wooden bookcase. Bucky shoves Steve and he knocks a cop over by the window. The cop pushes her off and she rolls slightly, Bucky then picks up a large cement brick and slams it into the cop. 

Bucky punches through the wall beside he door.  A cop decends through a sky-light on a zip wire. Bucky grabs the cop's gun and slams him into the wall. Bucky bashes a couple of cops with the battering ram, with one approaching from behind, Connie quickly phases through Bucky to get him in the shin before tripping him over and slamming her foot full force into his kneecap, he lets out a scream. Connie watches as Bucky pauses for a second before swinging in to the next level, seeing his urgency of him being surrounded, Connie picks up the cop she recently hurt's gun and starts aiming for their knees and arms.

No killing, only hurt to immobilize. 

"Der Verdächtige ist ausgebrochen. Er ist am östlichen Treppenschacht."

Connie quickly turns and without thinking, she goes to fire the gun at the person behind her, but a hand clutches the nozzle, knocking it out of her hands.

Oh, it's only Steve.

"Don't" he says threateningly.

Steve jumps down the next level. Glancing at the frightened cop on the floor, she stiffens up and holds her breath, dropping down a level, landing and swinging her feet to trip the cop over.

"Leave us alone!" she cries and watches Bucky drop a level using the banister. 

Hearing a gun click, her head snaps to the left, fearing the worse, but Steve was quicker to react and throws his shield, knocking the cop's gun away and the shield sticks in the wall.

"Let's go!" Bucky yells upward to Connie, who was leaning over the banister.

Connie holds her breath again, feeling the wind through her hair as she falls, feeling every level pass through her like sticking a dry hand in water. She lands with a thud, the concrete floor cracking under her sudden heavy weight and sees her friend handing over the banister, she holds out her hand and tugs him over.

He wastes no time to kick down the door and jump.

Connie thinks he's crazy.

"Bucky!" she screams, running to the edge of the apartment complex, she feels relief rushing over her upon seeing him make the jump. He doesn't wait for her, knowing that they'll have to split up and they'll meet in the city over tomorrow.

Who's that?

"Look out!"

Connie then wastes no time going to jump over the ledge. 

She's falling, the sensation is different to falling through the concrete or something passes through her, there's no water, only the tingling sensation.

She collides with the building, her legs collapsing beneath her as she rolls along the roof. Laying there for a few seconds, she musters enough strength to stand up and grab a metal bar, batting him in the ribs, freeing Bucky from him. But the muscular man in a black suit moves faster and Connie doesn't have enough time to block a slash that gets her across her forearm. She screams in pain. He pauses a second to examine the attack helicopter, giving her enough time to throw the bag to Bucky and making a run for it.

"You okay?" pants Bucky, glancing at her arm.

"I have been worse" she grunts

Bucky slings his bag on his back, runs and jumps down a level with Connie following. They land at street level and the chase continues, Connie's lungs screaming at her to slow down and Bucky looking like he's not breaking a sweat, too focused on getting out of there.

"You hurt?" he asks, filled with pants

"Uh-"

Connie's sentence is interrupted by the chorus of machine gun fire from the helicopter, she almost trips over her feet trying to dodge the line of fire, she and Bucky venture into the underpass, a car swerving around them, the chase continues. 

"I can't keep up" Connie admits, her legs starting to burn as bright as her desire to escape.

In one swift movement, Bucky picks her up, Connie links her arms around his neck and holds tight, watching the scene that appears behind them as they speed down the highway. Despite the fact that Bucky is carrying someone, he doesn't seem to be straining in the slightest from the run and her weight. 

Connie allowed herself to give herself a second to not only catch her breath but analyse her opponents, the cat man seems to rely on his claws and physical contact, defense and getting a good distance would be the ideal way to tackle him. Captain America seems to know his way around his shield, but he doesn't seem to be watching his legs and the new guy. Flying behind the car that was trailing them, more bird-like than human, take out the wings.

Bucky suddenly stops, Connie looks to see the pile up of cars and she lets out an accidental scream as they turn to jump over the barrier.

Up ahead is a motorbike and a rider, the two share the same thought and Connie quickly finds her footing as he practically drops her Bucky then grabs the handlebar and spins the bike around in mid air, throwing the rider off entirely, Connie watches in awe before snapping back into reality and jumping on the bike behind him.

"We need to loose them" Connie addresses and begins to dig into Bucky's bag, revealing a sticky bomb. 

Bucky is quick to turn around and swipe the black cat away, leaning overboard, Connie feels a sense of dread as his metal hand drags against the road, forming sparks as she grips tighter. As soon as they straighten up, Connie throws the sticky bomb up ahead and holds tighter upon coming out from under the overpass, bringing down tons of rubble in a deafening blow. Connie is about to smile, but she feels a tug.

She's falling again.

She curls up as she begins to twist and turn against the rubble, her skin scrapping against the road and forming bruises and scratches that would last a long time, her head began to hurt and she comes to a halt, face down on the concrete. Weakly, she forces herself up when hearing the now not distant howls of police sirens. Through her hair, she sees Steve, Bucky and the cat man standing tensely. Her body screams for her to run as far away as she can and then devise a plan to get Bucky out.

Then she sees his eyes, sad, alone, afraid and done with everything. He shakes his head lightly as she begins to stand weakly, stumbling a little and holding her upper arm from the cat's scratch.

A man in a suit flies in, similar to Iron Man but more bulkier, she's seen him on the news as well, fighting bad guys, mainly in Sokovia during the Ultron incident. 

Her breathe begins to go faster and the dread of the situation finally sets in.

Not again.

She goes to sprint as Bucky is forced to the ground, but she's tackled to the ground and restrained, the side of her face pressed into the ground as she continues to scream, she needed to scream and cry through blurry blood shot, sore, eyes. She felt hot with the men on top of her, restraining her to the ground.

She screams one more time.


End file.
